Page 29 of The Fifth Heir

“I wasn’t hiding.”

“You found the least noticeable place in the Hall and wore the same color as the stone.”

“It was my assigned position and my keeper’s uniform.”

“An impressive coincidence.”

Light moved through the common-room runes.

Warm gold appeared along the walls, replacing the clear glow from the sleeping chamber.

Rafe looked up.

The color strengthened when his smile returned.

“Interesting,” he said.

“It could be another residual reaction,” I said.

“To your irritation?”

“I am not irritated.”

The runes shifted toward orange.

Rafe’s smile widened.

I opened my satchel and took out my notebook. “Common room. One hearth, five chairs, five cups, no visible structural damage.”

“You’re ignoring me.”

“I’m working.”

“Orange appears to mean irritated.”

“We don’t know that.”

“It suits you.”

The light deepened.

“Rafe,” Leander said.

The gold and orange disappeared. The room turned a cold, clean white.

Rafe looked from Leander to the walls. “And that appears to mean someone has ruined the fun.”

“It means we have been sealed inside an unknown magical structure while academy officials are unable to reach us.”

“They’ll reach us.”

“You cannot know that.”

“The wing waited a few hundred years for us. I doubt it plans to kill us before dinner.”

Leander’s jaw tightened.

I wrote another line in the notebook.